Introducing ‘The Xu Zhangrun Archive’

Xu Zhangrun (許章潤, 1962-) is a professor of law at Tsinghua University in Beijing. In a series of major essays published from early 2016 to early 2019, Professor Xu questioned at length, and in detail, the political, economic and cultural trajectory of the People’s Republic of China under Xi Jinping, the leader of the nation’s party-state-army.

Profoundly concerned by a change to the constitution that garnered near universal approval from China’s legislature in March 2018 that granted Xi Jinping what is, for all intents and purposes, lifetime tenure as head of the nation’s party-state, Professor Xu felt compelled to speak out in an even more pointed manner.

In late July 2018, Xu published Imminent Fears, Immediate Hopes — a Beijing Jeremiad我們當下的恐懼與期待 (an annotated draft translation appeared in China Heritage on 1 August 2018). In this 10,000 word article — one written in a succinct and powerful form of literary Chinese — Xu not only questioned the Xi Jinping ‘dispensation’, he also offered concrete policy suggestions to counter the authoritarian revanchism of Xi’s ‘New Epoch’ 新時代. In a series of three interconnected works published from December 2018 to January 2019, Xu offered an overview of modern Chinese history, the role played in it by the Communist Party over the past seventy years, and the threat that it now poses not only to the continued modernisation of the country as it continues its struggle to become an equitable and responsible nation-state. He also alerted readers to the looming threat that China under Xi Jinping signifies for the international community.

Since mid 2018, Professor Xu’s works have generated widespread discussion — and sotto voce debate — in China; they have also attracted international attention. In late March 2019, the Communist Party Committee that administers Tsinghua University, Xu Zhangrun’s employer, informed him via the university’s Human Resources Office that his wages would be further reduced; that he was stripped of all of the duties and privileges as a professor at Tsinghua, effective immediately; and, that a formal Investigation Group would scrutinise in detail his activities and writings. That investigation would inform the Party bosses, both at Tsinghua and in Zhongnanhai, how he would be further disciplined, cashiered or legally sanctioned.

Tsinghua University’s actions elicited an immediate response among some of Xu Zhangrun’s colleagues, ranging from disbelief to outrage. The news also caused consternation among many Tsinghua graduates and within the wider community. We have translated some of those reactions below (see ‘Xu Zhangrun vs. Tsinghua University).

In the persecution of Xu Zhangrun, which had already surreptitiously begun at the behest of Chinese officialdom in August 2018, some of the country’s leading academics and intellectuals identify a ‘case study’ in the broader malaise affecting the country’s educational and cultural life. For years, it has been widely recognised that even the limited intellectual freedoms tolerated under previous Communist Party leaders were under increased threat due to the implementation of revived ideological controls in the publishing, academic and cultural spheres. Since 2014, and in particular in light of the trial and jailing in September that year of the respected, and moderate, Uyghur academic Ilham Tohti, even the more reluctant independent-minded educators in China’s universities and schools have been tremulously aware of the rising tide of Communist Party obscurantism.

The ‘Xu Zhangrun Incident’, as some call it, is not merely about intellectual and academic freedom. Rather, it reflects the Xi-generated crisis in China’s ability to think about, debate and formulate ideas free of Communist Party manipulation, ideas that rightfully could and should benefit Chinese society, the nation and the world as a whole.

‘The Xu Zhangrun Archive’, or ‘Xu Case File’ — which is located under Projects in the menu bar of China Heritage — offers some of the key works in Professor Xu’s recent oeuvre, as well as a sample of reactions to those works and an overview of his ongoing persecution. New material will be added to the Archive as it becomes available.

A Note on China Heritage

China Heritageis a continuation and expansion of the China Heritage Project established by Geremie R. Barmé in 2005 and the e-journal China Heritage Quarterly, which appeared under the auspices of that project from 2005 until 2012.

For more about the China Heritage site, see here; for the Rationale behind this site, see here; and, for material related to New Sinology 後漢學, the approach that underpins our endevours, see here.

The work of China Heritage is self-funded: We are indebted to no one and beholden to none.

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Xu Zhangrun at the stele commemorating Wang Guowei — a scholar celebrated for possessed of ‘A Spirit Unfettered and a Mind Independent’ 獨立之精神, 自由之思想 — on the campus of Tsinghua University, n.d.

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An Open Letter to Tsinghua University

5th of April 2019

Dr. Qiu Yong
President, Tsinghua University

Dear President Qiu,

Tsinghua University, one of the most highly ranked universities in the world, has suffered severe damage to its academic reputation as a consequence of the university’s punishment of Professor Xu Zhangrun.

As members of the international academic community, we urge the university to restore Professor Xu’s normal status in the university, including his teaching and research duties, and to refrain from any further sanctions against him.

Sincerely,

To sign this letter, please email your name and affiliation to:

ProfXu2019@gmail.com

This letter is open until the 19th of April 2019, after which it will be sent to Tsinghua University. It will also be made public.

Please circulate this letter to friends, colleagues and professional networks.

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To Read the First Xu Zhangrun Open Letter/Petition in Chinese (and translated into English), go to: